Keep It Cute, and Carry On
The moment I spilled the beans about my pregnancy to my close family members and friends was the same moment the judgmental and un-called for comments came rolling in. It's like everyone assumed I wanted to be bombarded with all of their advice and opinions on how I should go about the rest of my pregnancy. Of all the unsolicited "advice" I received one of the common themes were body image. Everyone kept reminding me that I should start eating healthy and shouldn't give up on exercising just because I was carrying a baby. I would receive phone calls every day asking for a full breakdown of what I ate for breakfast and so on. My friends kept telling me I needed to make sure I was dressing nice and doing my hair/make-up so that I didn't 'let myself go'. And in my mind I'm like
"L-O-F*CKING-L do you people really think that through all of the morning sickness, headaches, back pains, and heartburn I'm really concerned with how pretty I look every single day." Like no offense, but I have way bigger things on my plate right now...like how I'm bringing a whole new life into the freaking world and how my partner and I are going to deal with that alone.
Once I stopped worrying about what everyone else thought about how I looked during my pregnancy, I began to naturally feel so much better about myself. Of course I knew I had to change my diet around and drink more water. I didn't need to hear that from everyone else. I mean, don't get me wrong I definitely struggled in the beginning with how my body was changing. Clothes immediately felt tighter, my cute high-waisted jeans were no longer an option, and the girls were popping out of all my tops. My wardrobe now consisted of big t-shirts, leggings and old lady pajamas from Wal-Mart. I tried to keep it cute and wear nice summer dresses that showed off my growing baby bump, but then Fall rolled around and it was like s***t what to do now. I had to have a little pep talk with myself and remind myself of the confident fashionista I was before I was pregnant. At first I felt uncomfortable and embarrassed to wear certain things, but once I learned how to play around with what worked for my belly I started to gain a piece of my old self back again. And it felt f***ing wonderful! From then on I continued to remind my self that I'm still that sexy motherf**ka behind this growing baby bump and I should embrace it every day no matter what I'm wearing...or not ;).
Feeling confident in your skin during pregnancy is a big challenge for many women, and other people's comments certainly don't help you build that confidence. But I'm here to tell you, every part of your body is beautiful. F**k the Haters, and F**k their Advice!
